Feature: A primal urge

Dawn Renton

Bobbby Gillespie lays his soul bare on the new Primal Scream album. The charismatic frontman says its a bit of a shock to himself at how personal the lyrics are.

There wasn’t any plans to make this record so personal – it just turned out that way; a happy accident which seems to be the way it is for Primal Scream. You never quite know what you’re going to get – but then, neither do they.

It’s always an event when you come and see Primal Scream live

Bobby said: “The music evokes ideas for lyrics. It works in a dramatic sense for me. I’m a songwriter and have been for many years, so I write about what I know, what I see and what I feel.

“I’m trying to make sense of my life, the world and trying to fit it into a pop song.

“I feel like that a lot of the time, so I wanna make music that reflects how I feel. It’s not always about melodies; it’s about feeling and emotion and atmosphere. I hope other people can feel that when they listen to it. Maybe that’ll touch the loneliness in them.”

“It wasn’t a conscious decision, these things usually aren’t. When you’re making a record, things have a habit of just appearing and if you have a good song, you have a good song.”

The album title Chaosmosis comes from a writer that Bobby admires.

“The name comes from a book by French psychiatrist Félix Guattari. We each absorb the mass of disconnected information the contemporary world throws at us.

“As an artist the only way of making any sense of it is to try to make art, something that can be used to inspire yourself and other people in the face of this onslaught of negativity. I’ve always said that our music is like a shield and a sword used against everything else.”

Bobby is excited about the new Primal Scream album but is just as proud of his other recent release that flew a little bit under the radar for many mainstream fans of the band.

It’s a mix CD of other people’s music called ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’.

Bobby said: “As much love and care went into that compilation as any Primal Scream release.

“It’s quite a personal record for me. I’m happy it’s out there and people seem to like it.”

With the album ready to drop, Primal Scream are looking forward to taking it on the road. The band are set to play a number of intimate shows before a series of headline summer festival dates.

And as far as Bobby is con-cerned, nothing beats smaller shows.

He said: “It was our manager’s idea to do a small tour. We wanted to play smaller venues and festivals to make it more of an event.

“It’s cool to see so many people enjoying your music, and it’s always an event when you come and see Primal Scream live.

“Electric Fields is as small a festival as we’ve played in Britain, but it’s going to be brilliant,” Bobby continued.

“An intimate open air show in Scotland? That’s going to be amazing, isn’t it? Plus we’ve never played there before, so new is always good. I can’t wait for that one.

“We’ve never played the ABC in Glasgow before either. So hopefully people are as excited to see us as we are to be playing it.”

Chaosmosis is out now.

Primal Scream play Aberdeen Beach Ballroom on March 29, Glasgow’s O2 ABC on March 30 and headline Electric Fields, Drumlanrig Castle, on August